Mental Health & Wellbeing

Genetics may be Key to a Nation’s Level of Happiness

Countries are gradually giving up the goal of high GDP and trying to find a better measure of human well-being. Science will help us to do that. I reckon that over the next few decades we will see biomarker measures come to be used in a systematic way, and genetic markers are in that spirit." [...]

What Is The Impact Of Too Much Caffeine?

When entering a school to present our Safe Partying seminars, I am usually greeted by a teacher on a ‘break’ (a questionable term) from lesson with a cup of coffee in hand. For most, I know this is not the first cup of coffee, with many more pours throughout the day for that extra burst [...]

Dr Donnelly

My article last week that discussed whether of not particular school discipline procedures were a breach of students’ human rights, I didn’t even think to comment on corporal punishment. Why would I? It’s not relevant these days is it? So what to make of the fact that last week, Dr Kevin Donnelly stated that, as [...]

4 Ways Of Choosing Happiness From Within

What makes you happy?  Reflect on what you’ve done today. What do your behaviors say about your approach to happiness? These are the question I usually ask students on the first day of my psychology courses. Often, their responses sound something like this: food, shopping, a new car, a better job, money, sex, an honest spouse, [...]

Flow and the natural high

It’s sometimes referred to as 'flow'. People who have experienced it have described flow this way: “felt easy”, “complete task focus”, ”totally relaxed”, “enjoying experience as it occurs”, “totally absorbed in what I am doing”, “endless supply of energy”, “things happening automatically”, “nothing else enters awareness”, and “leaves you feeling great”. - The Long Run via [...]

Positive Sex Education Vs Online Porn!

Who is teaching young people about sex and relationships in the digital era?   Issue Today, pornography’s influence is everywhere.  Porn influences mainstream advertising, music videos, fashion and popular culture.  Australian children are growing up in a digital world dominated by sexualised imagery that reinforces inequity and the notion that women are objects to be controlled, managed and dominated.             Use of pornography in [...]

Body size weighs heavily on kids

New research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) shows children are expressing dissatisfaction with their body size as early as 8-9 years old and the majority of 10-11 years old are trying to control their weight. Executive Manager of AIFS' Longitudinal Study for Australian Children, Dr Ben Edwards said the research also showed [...]

Can staying awake all night help combat depression?

Staying awake for more than 24 hours may be the fastest treatment for moderate to major depression. Early research has shown six out of ten patients can get symptom relief within a day of this treatment, compared with the six to eight weeks it can take antidepressants to work. Sleep deprivation is thought to work [...]

Internet pornography is an urgent public health issue, conference hears

Peter Donnelly, professor of public health medicine at St Andrew’s University, Scotland, said that the “very violent and denigrating” nature of much internet pornography was a deep concern. He said, “All males need to think very carefully about their use of pornography, because if there’s no market, you begin to change this. What you hear [...]

Happiness is Overrated

To seek happiness as a permanent state derives from two primitive evolutionary impulses: avoiding pain (which we associate with danger and the risk of death) and seeking gratification (which helps ensure that our genes get passed on). But it also turns out that pain and discomfort are critical to growth, and that achieving excellence depends [...]

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